The last sixteen months have turned the world upside down and along with it how we communicate with one another. B2B marketing for the small business has been transformed. Trade shows largely disappeared as did in-person meetings. Along with the explosion in Zoom and MS Teams was the use of video marketing for all businesses, big or small. This is one trend that no small business can afford to ignore. Without video, the “know, like and trust” marketing strategy is difficult in a post-pandemic world.
Video Marketing is Not A Nice to Have
It’s not aspirational. Over 80 % of businesses are already engaging in video marketing.
Video marketing is an essential part of the marketer’s toolkit. It’s a no brainer when it comes to its impact. Video is absorbed 600,000 times faster than text. Scientists have shown that one single minute of video is equivalent to 18 million words. If video is on the homepage of your website, Google is 53 times more likely to rank your site on the first page of the search, and we all know how important that is for your business to be found. Size does not matter. Your small business must be fully engaged in video marketing.
You Don’t Need to Be Down With the Teens to Engage in Video Marketing
“Video is just for consumers not relevant for B2B marketing.”
“Tik Tok, Snapchat and Instagram Reels are just for the kids. They are not my customers, not my audience so video marketing can be ignored.”
This is not the whole story. 59% of business decision-makers would rather watch a video than read an article or plough through a blog post. Research from HubSpot found that 39% of business decision-makers contacted a vendor after watching a video. LinkedIn launched its video capability in 2020 and, based on its own research, it has found that over 40% of business leaders on its platform prefer to watch a video. Since its launch in 2018, Facebook Watch has grown to over a 1.8billion monthly users. YouTube is the world’s second-biggest search engine after Google and this trend is here to stay. It seems you do not have to be from Gen Z to adopt video marketing. Evidence shows that we all prefer to be consumers of video marketing.
Growth in Video Marketing for Small Business is Exponential
More than 428 million videos have been uploaded to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch in the last 365 days. That is up from 411 million videos that were uploaded the previous year and 361 million videos that were uploaded the year before that. In 2021 Capsule predicts this number will be 487 million: 1.3million videos uploaded a day or an incredible 55,594 per hour.
You cannot be in any doubt that video marketing must be part of your strategic digital marketing communications plan.
How Can Small Businesses Stand Out From the Rest?
The creative noise is deafening … not quite, as around 75% of consumers of video marketing material choose to watch with no sound! Embrace the silence. Creative, engaging content with captions (this is so those on mute can still understand your message). It matters. And by the way, let’s not forget mobile. Some commentators believe that over 80% of digital video marketing content will be accessed through a mobile device by the close of 2021. Stand out content, with captions and fully optimised for mobile devices is key to success in this overcrowded, noisy, digital melange.
What Makes Engaging Video Content?
One of the biggest growth trends during the pandemic was experiences and product demonstrations using video marketing. Whether it was Joe Wicks getting the nation fitter, virtual wine tasting or how to make your sourdough starter – how-to guides exploded. This trend is set to continue throughout 2021 and beyond. This type of content is engaging and builds the relationship between business and customer. As new products and services are introduced the how-to guides can be updated in the B2B space easily and effectively.
Tell Your Story
There is nothing like a video to tell the story of your brand when “in person” is not available. The pandemic has changed buying and consumer behaviour for all of us. Consumers want to know your story; what your business did during lockdown. Integrity in business matters more than ever. Consumers and businesses alike want to support organisations that choose to do the right thing. Businesses buy from people. Small businesses can tell the story of their brand, where they are, where they have come from. This is engaging, unique content which, when told by a small business, resonates with audiences like no other.
Build The Fan Club For Your Small Business and Shout From The iPad or iPhone!
Everyone loves a winner. There is nothing like customer testimonials and endorsements to build up trust in your business and its brand. Your customers are your biggest fans who can endorse your products and services. Just ask them and film their enthusiastic responses
In conclusion, one of the greatest assets of video marketing is that it humanises your business. It improves the dialogue between your business and your customers. Using Video marketing for small businesses done right, generates increased sales and improves customer relationships. But before you start you need to ask some fundamental questions:
- What is the purpose of your video?
- What do you want to achieve through making this video?
- Who is your audience for this video?
- What is the call to action for the person watching this video?
- Is the content of this video engaging and not me too?
If you want to get ahead of the curve when it comes to successful video marketing for small businesses, then having a chat with Capsule is the first step. We will use our expertise to pinpoint precisely where video fits into your marketing strategy and together with our creative input develop relevant engaging content. Contact our team on 01787 267949 to see how Capsule provides clever solutions that deliver effective results without breaking the budget.
Click here to make an enquiry and find out more about our video production and animation services for previous clients or learn a little more about how to integrate video into your marketing plan.
